Spruce Head is an
unincorporated village in
Knox County,
Maine
Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
, United States. The community is located on
Penobscot Bay
Penobscot Bay () is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Ocean in south central Maine, a stretch known as Midcoast Maine, in a broader Atlantic region known as Down East. The bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River, ...
and
Maine State Route 73 south of
Rockland. Spruce Head has a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
with
ZIP code 04859, which opened on March 4, 1880.
The village of Spruce Head lies partly in the township of
South Thomaston and partly in the township of
St. George
Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...
and is connected by a bridge to Sprucehead Island, which is entirely within the borders of South Thomaston. The island faces the
Muscle Ridge Islands to the east across a navigable channel. Seal Harbor is a well-protected anchorage formed by the southern shore of Sprucehead Island, the eastern shores of Patten Point and Rackliff Island, and the northern shores of Norton Island and
Whitehead Island. Spruce Head village centers on the post office, Spruce Head Community Church (built in the late 19th century), and the Spruce Head Community Hall (built in 1923). An adjacent boatyard provides facilities for launching, recovering, and storing fishing vessels and pleasure craft. Rackliff Island, reached from the mainland by a causeway, is inhabited by several hundred households; it lies within St. George township. An additional hamlet considered part of Spruce Head is found along Clark Island Road on the western shore of Wheeler Bay and also lies within the township of St. George. It affords access to the Clark Island Preserve, a part of the
Maine Coast Heritage Trust
The Maine Coast Heritage Trust is a nonprofit land conservation organization. Its conservation partner is the Maine Land Trust Network, which is one of its programs.
Formation
In 1969, Margaret Rockefeller learned from the staff at Acadia Natio ...
and is also the location of the headquarters of the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School.
Spruce Head was the boyhood home of poet and Connecticut Governor
Wilbert Snow, who was born on Whitehead Island and is buried in the Ocean View Cemetery at Spruce Head.
The island is home to an active lobster fishing fleet, several lobster wholesalers, and a lobster shack, which in 2017 was reviewed by ''Yankee Magazine'' as having the best
lobster roll
A lobster roll is a North American dish comprising lobster meat served on a grilled hot dog–style bun. The filling may also contain butter, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper, with variants made in some parts of New England replacing the b ...
in Maine. The Spruce Head Fisherman's Co-op is the third largest fishing co-operative in Maine. In 2024 the Spruce Head fleet recorded landings valued at $23.85 million, the fifth highest in Maine for the year.
[https://www.maine.gov/dmr/sites/maine.gov.dmr/files/inline-files/Top10PortsByValuePounds.Table_.pdf]
References
Villages in Knox County, Maine
Villages in Maine
{{Maine-geo-stub